1. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to aircraft and, in particular, to a method and apparatus for managing aircraft. Still more particularly, the present disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for managing an unmanned aerial vehicle during flight.
2. Background
Unmanned aerial vehicles are aircraft that fly without a human operator onboard the aircraft. Unmanned aerial vehicles are used for a number of different purposes. Unmanned aerial vehicles may be used by military organizations to perform surveillance, reconnaissance, target acquisition, attacks on targets, and other suitable operations. Additionally, unmanned aerial vehicles also may be used in non-military applications. These applications include fire-fighting, security, and/or other suitable types of operations.
Unmanned aerial vehicles may have many different shapes, sizes, configurations, and characteristics. Unmanned aerial vehicles may be controlled from a remote location or fly autonomously using a program with a flight plan run by the program on the unmanned aerial vehicle.
Depending on the conditions encountered during a mission performed by an unmanned aerial vehicle, increased challenges in the survivability and performance of the mission may be present. For example, with respect to survivability, an unmanned aerial vehicle may perform a mission at lower altitudes in hostile environments. An unmanned aerial vehicle may have to deviate from a desired route to avoid exposure to threats that may damage or destroy the unmanned aerial vehicle. These threats also may include jamming or other interruptions in the communications links used by the unmanned aerial vehicle.
Additionally, missions may include multiple waypoints through which an unmanned aerial vehicle may fly. The unmanned aerial vehicle may collect information or perform other operations at or near these waypoints. When a hostile environment is present, the route of the unmanned aerial vehicle may change such that reaching the different waypoints to perform operations may be unfeasible with respect to the resources of the unmanned aerial vehicle, such as fuel.
Currently, unmanned aerial vehicles may fly a route using the waypoints that may be followed. These waypoints may include points other than those used to perform different operations. A remote operator may interrupt the route being flown by the unmanned aerial vehicle to take into account hostile environments. Additionally, the remote operator also may make other changes to the waypoints to take into account available resources.
This type of process requires the remote operator to monitor the unmanned aerial vehicle. The position of the unmanned aerial vehicle and information about potential hostile environments are used by the operator to determine whether changes are needed. These types of operations may take more time than desired, as well as require additional resources to operate the unmanned aerial vehicle.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to have a method and apparatus that takes into account one or more of the issues discussed above, as well as other issues.